A Christmas Carol
by lilylouise95
Summary: It's Christmas Eve of Lily's sixth year at Hogwarts and after an argument with James she wished he was never born, that night she gets visited by some ghosts who show her the consequences of that wish. What will be the consequences of her wish? Will Lily's change her mind?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing anything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling or Charles Dickens.**

It was Christmas Eve of Lily Evans' sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For as long as Lily could remember Christmas had been her favourite holiday she loved the carols, the snow, trees and most of all the happiness that seemed to radiate from everyone you walked past. It had always been a tradition for her and her friends Mary, Alice and Marlene to stay at school over the Christmas holidays. There was truly nothing more magical than spending such a magical time of the year in a castle with all your closest friends. Also, at Hogwarts snow was guaranteed during the holidays not a year had gone by without snow.

Nothing could bring down Lily's spirits on a day like this that is nothing but James Potter. This very guy was currently entering the Gryffindor's common room with his group of friends who called themselves the Marauders. The Marauders were a group of four of the most attractive guys in school (well three as you couldn't count Peter as attractive). James Potter was the leader of the Marauders and he made her life hell by constantly asking her out in the most obnoxious way possible. He couldn't seem to get it into his big head that Lily did not like him never mind fancy him. James' best friend Sirius black also had a huge ego to go with his good looks. Remus Lupin was the only Marauder Lily really got on with he studied hard and didn't mess around as much, though he still got involved in their pranks. The last slightly less memorable one of the group was Peter Pettigrew a small and stubby boy with very watery eyes, Peter never talked around Lily or any of her friends and always seemed to idol James and for that reason Lily hated him.

As the Marauders entered the common room they made their way towards Lily and her friends who were sitting on some of the sofas around the fire. The Marauders, Alice, Mary, Marlene and Lily were the only Gryffindor's staying for the holidays so it was natural that they should spend it together. That and the fact that all of Lily's friends got on well with the Marauders and were friends not one of them could understand Lily's hatred towards them.

"Hello Ladies" Sirius greeted as they all flopped onto the remaining sofas around the fire.

"Hi" everyone answered apart from Lily who just ignored most of them and started talking to Remus.

"So what have you guys been up to?" Mary asked.

"Snow ball fight" Remus replied gesturing to their soaking clothes.

"Which I won!" James interrupted.

"Don't lie, Prongs, didn't your mum ever tell you it was wrong" Sirius teased "I won!"

"Padfoot you were too distracted trying to keep your precious hair dry to win" Remus mocked smiling at him.

"I WAS NOT!" He pouted whilst crossing his arms.

After relaxing around the fire for hours laughing and joking they finally decided to go to bed having seen it was nearly midnight. After they had finally motivated themselves to actually move from their comfortable positions the bell chimed to signal midnight.

"Look mistletoe you have to kiss me now McKinnon can't break such an ancient tradition, now can we?" Sirius smirked whilst leaning into kiss her not that she objected. Everyone knew they had a thing for each other but both were players and didn't want to risk their reputation (which they were quite proud of) to enter a serious relationship.

Lily suddenly became aware that James was trying to casually get her under the mistletoe.  
"POTTER WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" she shouted at him.

"Nothing" He replied trying to look innocent but failing miserably to stop the smirk she found so infuriating spreading across his face.

"HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM! I AM NOT GOING UNDER THAT MISTLETOE WITH YOU!"

"Oh come on Lily, don't be a spoil sport... You know you want to" He grinned at her.

"I WOULDN'T KISS YOU IF YOU WERE THE LAST MAN ON EARTH... I HATE YOU, YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!" She shouted whilst stomping up the staircase to the girls dormitory.

A couple of minutes later the other girls entered.

"Lily, are you ok?" Mary asked.

"No I'm not! why does Potter have to ruin everything? I wish he was never born!" She shouted whilst flinging herself onto her bed and drawing the curtains around it. Her friends knew better than to try to reason with her when she was like this so they left her to it and got ready for bed hoping that she will be in a better mood come Christmas day.


	2. The Ghost of Christmas Past

**Disclaimer: I own nothing anything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling or Charles Dickens.**

In the middle of the night Lily awoke with a jolt for no apparent reason. As she looked around she saw a bright light coming from the crack in the curtains around her bed. Cautiously opening them she saw a ghost floating in front of her bed staring back at her. He was small seemingly old yet young at the same time, his face held the quality of a child with its roundness and had lack of wrinkles. Yet his hair was as white as snow like an old man and his eyes didn't hold the innocence of a child but were that of a man of great age. On his body he wore a toga that also seemed to glow slightly and on top of his white hair lay a wreath of ivy woven intricately into a crown. Any normal girl would have been scared out of their mind at seeing a ghost but because Lily was a witch it wasn't so uncommon. Still her head swirled with millions of questions, why was this ghost here? Who was he? He didn't look like any of the Hogwarts ghosts she could remember. What did he want?

"Who are you?" Lily asked finally voicing one of her questions.

"I am The Ghost of Christmas Past"

"Why are you here?" She inquired curiously.

"I think you know the answer to that" upon seeing Lily's confused expression he continued "Think back to before you awoke and all will be revealed"

Suddenly, Lily remembered what she had been dreaming of before she woke up, she had dreaming about what her life would have been like without Potter. Smiling slightly she remembered how in her dream her life had seemed happy and carefree till she remember hearing a mystical voice saying.

"If James Potter had never lived do you really think things would have been as they are? Tonight you will be visited by three ghosts who will show you the truth. Then you will see how wise your wish really was" before the voice faded away to nothing.

"You have come to show me about what life would be like without Potter?" She questioned to which the ghost simply nodded."Why are you bothering I know what it would be like without him ... It'd be heaven"

"Do you truly believe that everything will be that good? Well let us see what life would really be like" He offered extending his hand towards her. As she touched his hand there was a blinding light and she suddenly found herself standing with the ghost outside her house.

She was standing outside what looked like her old house and through the window they could see a young Lily and her sister Petunia bouncing excitedly on the sofas they opened their presents one by one. The look of joy on their faces as they enjoyed the morning. Her mother sat on the sofa with her dad as they watched with loving eyes as their children opened presents. The two stood at the window as the happy festivities carried on.

"Why are you showing me this? James wouldn't have ever effected this and aren't you here to show me what my life would have been like without him?" Lily asked tearing her eyes away from the happy scene.

"All in good time" He answered mysteriously. After another couple of minutes watching he extended his hand towards her again and before she knew it they were in Hogwarts, more specifically in the Gryffindor common room. Over by the fire Lily could see her friends and a younger her they looked to be in second or third year. They were exchanging presents happily chatting and laughing. All of a sudden the portrait hole opened and Peter literally fell through, he was a mess his clothes torn and ruffled. When he got up off the floor it was clear that he had been in a fight his face was covered in bruises and was bleeding she noticed as he scurried up stairs to his dormitory. Lily noticed that none of her friends asked what had happened as they would normally instead they just glanced up before resuming what they were doing like it was a regular thing. Out of the corner of her eye Lily saw movement and when she looked around she saw Remus. He looked shabbier then he normally did, dark circles were under his eyes and scars covered his face when in her normal reality they weren't nearly as prominent it looked as though he'd literally been tearing himself up during his transformations. What puzzled her the most was that he looked scared of something and was sitting in the corner looking as though he wanted to disappear, yet there was hardly anyone in the common room and most of them if not all of them he was friends with. At least in the normal world he was and why hadn't he reacted when Peter came in it was as though they weren't even friends!

"What is happening with Remus and Peter? They didn't even acknowledge each other!" Lily asked looking to the ghost for guidance.

The ghost simply replied that all will be revealed soon enough and extended his hand once more. Once the blinding light had gone Lily found herself standing in the door way of The Great Hall at what looked like the Christmas day feast. She soon spotted herself and her friends sitting at their usual spot down the Gryffindor table but her attention was quickly diverted as a fight started to break out behind her in the hallway. Turning around she noticed with surprise that the one starting the fight was Sirius surrounded by Snape, Bellatrix, his brother Regulus and a lot of the other Slytherins. To Lily's surprise Sirius wasn't fighting them instead he was standing there proudly in Slytherin uniform as he bullied Peter Pettigrew. Lily watched as he threw Peter around using magic as Peter tried to defend himself.

"STOP IT!" Lily shouted making her way away from the ghost and towards the fight but they just carried on as though nothing had happened.

"They cannot hear or see you, you cannot help you must simply watch" The ghost spoke from behind her.

Lily looked around desperately for someone to help but everyone was either eating at the feast completely oblivious to what was happening out here or the few that were in the corridor either scurried away like nothing was happening or some stood watching yet not making any attempt to help. She found herself for the first time in her life hoping that James might turn up to break it up or at least help Peter fight like he would always if one of his friends needed him.

"He is not going to come" The ghost replied as though hearing her thoughts "This is a world without James Potter, remember"

"What about Remus where is he? He would help!" Lily muttered desperately looking for him as if on cue Remus appeared at the top of the stairs but he just scurried past as though nothing was happening his head down.

"Why will nobody help?" She asked the ghost whilst watching the fight "What's happened to the rest of the Marauders why aren't they friends?"

"James was the one who brought them together. Without him Sirius wouldn't have discovered that it's not all about blood purity and wouldn't have acted on his doubts of what his family had been teaching him his whole life, he would have gone to Slytherin and become one of them. Without James, Remus would never have learnt not be ashamed of himself and wouldn't have got the confidence to make friends. Without James, Peter would have been bullied and never had anyone to stick up for him... Without James there would be no Marauders" The ghost explained before taking her hand and encasing them both in blinding light.

She found herself back in her bed where she started.

"I have shown you all you needed to see. I must now leave you, think on what you've seen and expect another visit from a ghost soon" He sadly smiled before slowly fading away into nothing.

Thoughts swirled around Lily's head as she found herself once again alone in the dark of her room. The ghost had hardly answered any of her questions, she had so many still to ask. Tiredness took over and she found herself drifting off into a restless sleep.


	3. The Ghost of Christmas Present

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed I really wasn't expecting such a respose glad you all like it! To answer your question miyu though your right I think Sirius probably did alway hate his family and stuff I think without meeting James on the Hogwarts Express he wouldn't have got the courage to stand up to his family and if he hadn't got that courage and had gone into Slytherin instead he would have been pressured into it by being surrounded by his family and other purebloods. I don't know if that makes any sense it's just what I always imagined :) Hope you enjoy this chapter please review as it helps me improve I should hopefully have the next chapter up tomorrow!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing anything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling or Charles Dickens.**

After half an hour Lily found herself jolted awake out of her uneasy sleep once again. This time when she opened the curtains surrounding her bed she no longer found herself face to face with a ghost instead she was met by darkness. After sitting in bed for a while waiting for the next ghost she was just about to try to go back to sleep when a blue ball of light appeared next to her and then slowly made its way towards the doorway to the staircase, Lily took this as a sign to follow it. So following it she made her way down the girls staircase and into the common room where the light vanished.

All of a sudden a voice came out of nowhere and boomed "Come in, I am The Ghost of Christmas Present."

Whirling around to face the direction the voice had come from Lily saw a ghost completely unlike the ghost of Christmas past. This ghost had a joyful air to it, his brown curly hair bounced past his shoulders, he wore no shoes on his feet in fact the only clothing he wore was a dark green robe that was tied at the front.

"I take it you know why I am here" He laughed to which Lily simply nodded too wary to speech and apprehensive of what she would see.

"Take my robe and I will show you what there is for you to see" Lily did just that and the familiar blinding light surrounded her. She found herself back in the common room it looked like last night as everything was the same. The Lily before them looked the same as the Lily standing next to the ghost and everything was the same.

Turning to the ghost in confusion Lily asked "Why have you brought me back I thought you were the ghost of Christmas present?"

"To understand the present Christmas I am about to show you, you must revisit Christmas eve" He grinned knowingly at her.

Suddenly the portrait hole opened and instead of the laughing that floated in last night all that way heard was the shy shuffling of feet. Looking up Lily noticed it was in fact Remus but not the Remus she knew it was the one that the other ghost had shown her. Nervously the boy glanced at the friends by the fire and held his book protectively to his chest at thought to hide or shield himself before scurrying off to the boys dormitory.

"He's so weird!" Marlene's voice floated over to her. Making Lily's blood boil Remus was one of the kindest people she knew and after all he has to go through she couldn't stand people being mean to him.

"I would normally disagree but you're right he never talks to anyone, avoids all contact and disappears regularly for god knows what reason" The Lily of this world said.

Their conversation was interrupted by Peter falling through the portrait hole again covered in bruises he too scurried off. After his entranced the girls carried on as normal having thankfully dropped the topic of Remus before retiring up to bed at the same time they did last night.

"Come take my robe I must now show you the present Christmas"

Again they were standing in the common room, light footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs and Lily saw the other version of herself making her way down the stairs into an empty common room. Lily was always the first one awake but whenever she normally went downstairs the Marauders were usually there. Until that very moment, when a somewhat unhappy version of Lily sat down on her own staring longingly out of the window and frequently checking the clock, Lily had never realised what an impact the Marauders had on her life. By now she would normally be sitting happily with the Marauders laughing and occasionally arguing with James. Who normally made an effort on Christmas day to not annoy her too much and they got on surprisingly well. Unconsciously Lily moved away from the ghost towards her other self. When she got closer she could see the sadness and loneliness filling her eyes and tears welled up in her own eyes.

"I've seen enough take me back" She choked tearing her eyes away from the heart retching scene.

"There is still more you need to see" He replied happily seeming unaffected by her tears. Holding his robe out towards her till she reluctantly took it and the light surrounded her once more.

This scene was quite unlike the last one she had seen, this time they were in The Great Hall and the other Lily looked to be happily laughing with her friends. However, as the meal progressed Alice started talking to her boyfriend Frank Longbottom. It was nice for Lily to see that at least one thing had stayed the same without James. Whilst Alice was distracted, Mary and Marlene started their usual talks about Quidditch and gossiping both of which didn't interest Lily at all and seemed to not interest her other self either. This meant that despite being surrounded by friends the other Lily found herself alone once more. Without anyone talking to her she seemed to retreat into her own thoughts and that look from the other vision, the ghost showed her, returned to her face once more. Thinking back Lily realised that this often happened at meals yet she normally had the Marauders to talk to and laugh or in some cases argue with. Naturally Lily found her eyes turning away from herself and looking for the group of trouble makers. Instead what she found was Peter was sitting alone at the table snivelling into his food trying to keep the tears at bay, whilst Sirius chucked food at him from the Slytherin table. She couldn't even see Remus yet somehow she knew he was sitting somewhere on his own drowning in the weight of his secret.

As if reading her mind about where Remus was the ghost turned to her and said "Take my robe I have one more thing to show you"

Within a flash she was outside of Hogwarts in what looked to be the shrieking shack. She was about to ask why he had brought her here when a cry of pain and anguish filled the shack. Following the noise she found a sick looking Remus lying on the floor in the other room as his body convulsed with painful spasms. She watched as his body began to change shape as he morphed painfully into a werewolf. His screams rang in her head as they seemed to bounce off the walls. Lily then watched as the werewolf started taking all its anger out on itself knowing she couldn't help in any way she turned to the ghost desperate to get away.

"Take me away please, I cannot watch any longer" she cried as all her energy seemed to drain out of her grabbing his robe she found herself thankfully on her bed once more.

"I can tell little one that you do not understand the last vision let me shed some light. I know that you already knew about Lupins' condition but you don't understand what it has to do with Mr Potter am I correct?" He questioned but without waiting for an answer he continued "I know you know the answer how many times have you seen what looks to be a stag, dog and wolf playing together? If you'd looked closer you would see the rat on the stags back"

Realisation dawned on Lily...The Marauders must be animagus'. Of course animals aren't affected by a werewolf's bite so if they turned into animals they could make the process easier! That was brilliant! The ghost having seen the realisation in her eyes simply smiled before warning her of another visit later and disappearing into a ball of green light that faded away. Leaving Lily alone once again to think about what she had been shown so far.


	4. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come

**A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I'm sorry this took longer then I wanted to update but I have been ill and have rewritten this chapter a few times cause I wasn't happy with it. Anyway please R&R because reviews make my day :) **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing anything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling or Charles Dickens.**

For the third time that night Lily was once again woken from sleep with a jolt. This time she felt her heart skip with dread as she looked at the terrifying figure in front of her. The presence in front of her strongly resembled a death eater but after further inspection she noticed that it looked like a death eater and dementor combined, the only way to sum it up was death. The figure had the ghostly glow to it which the other ghosts she had seen had; it wore a long black robe with a hood that completely covered where its face would be. Without a word it held out its arm towards her and out of the long sleeves appeared a bony hand with long, thin fingers.

"You are The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come aren't you?" Lily asked her voice involuntarily shaking with fear, realising she had been warned of his appearance in her last dream.

Instead of answering the ghost just bowed its head as if in confirmation and moved its hand closer towards her. Knowing what she had to do Lily reluctantly took its hand and saw the familiar yet alien bright light encase them. Instead of the horrifying sight she was expecting she found herself inside the lounge of what looked to be a nice average size house. This was obviously going to be a Christmas after she had left Hogwarts. Lily saw the other her walk slowly into the room with two children following shortly behind her. Lily looked to be mid to late twenties and looked somewhat troubled yet as soon as she looked at the children at her side her expression softened. Lily followed the line of her eyes and took in the two children for the first time, a boy and girl who both looked around 3 to 4, the boy had sandy coloured hair and emerald eyes whilst the girl had sandy coloured hair and blue eyes the colour of the ocean. By the way they were following her around Lily could tell the children were defiantly hers. She watched as the older her picked them both up and started spinning them around looking carefree.

"Come on kids lets go out for a walk in the snow shall we?" The older Lily asked putting them down with a smile as she made her way towards the door. Lily and the ghost followed and watched as the family wrapped up warm, put their willies on and went out the front door. Looking at the ghost for guidance was she meant to follow or was she meant to see something different now?

"Do we follow?" She asked to which the ghost simply motioned with his hand towards the door so Lily followed the family outside. This future didn't seem too bad after all. Quickly catching up with the family who were making their way toward the centre of the village throwing snowballs and generally messing around in the snow.

"Hey Alan, Rose do you fancy some sweets?" The mother asked leading them towards the newsagent. Suddenly as she reached the newspapers outside the door of the shop she froze and told the children to carry on inside as she picked up the paper her eyes scanning the front page before putting it back quickly as if it burned her and following the children inside. Lily made her way towards the newspapers and picked the first one up going deathly white she dropped it after reading the headline as tears filled her eyes. For the main story told of another death eater attack and amongst the killed was Peter Pettigrew and a bunch of other names she didn't recognise another thing that jumped out at her was the picture of a crazy Sirius Black mug shot. Reading on she realise that he had been arrested for the murders and in his eyes was no remorse but pure rage and a sick sort of satisfaction.

"Is that what you wanted me to see?" She questioned but as usual her question was left unanswered as the ghost held out its ghastly hand for her to take.

This time Lily found herself back in that house she was in before it was late at night and it seemed a couple of years on from the last vision as the children had grown up and looked slightly older. They were all sitting on the sofa and it looked to be late Christmas Eve judging by the children's excitement.

"Mummy, where is Daddy? He's never home!" The little girl suddenly asked looking up to her mother her eyes looking hopeful.

"Darling you know Daddy is a very busy man he can't come home yet" She sadly replied "Now come on you better get ready for bed you don't want Santa to not come because you're awake now do you?"

"NO!" They both shouted sprinting off upstairs.

A few minutes later the older Lily returned downstairs after putting the children to bed. That carefree look she had worn the rest of the times Lily had seen her was no longer there instead her eyes held great sadness and she seemed to have instantly aged. Slowly she made her way towards the window and looked out as though checking no one was there before making her way over to a picture of herself and her family. Looking at the picture Lily saw it was a picture of Lily, Alan, Rose and a man with sandy hair and blue eyes who she assumed must be her husband. The older Lily pulled out the back of the frame and took something from out the back which she unfolded. Collapsing on the sofa she started longingly at the picture of herself, Alice, Mary and Marlene from their Hogwarts days they were all laughing and joking looking carefree and youthful. Surprisingly Lily noticed tears were now streaming down the mothers cheeks as she started muttering to herself.

"Why is she crying? And why is she hiding the picture?" Lily asked the ghost completely baffled by her older self the ghost simply ignored her and watched the crying woman.

"I wish we still talked... Why did I let him cut me off?" She cried "I'm so alone now all I have is the kids, I have no friends, Mark is always at work, he bans me from speaking to you all and I can't go against him" She cried talking to the picture.

"Why didn't I listen to you? You tried to warn me about him but I was blinded by love well now that, that love has faded so has my blindness" She desperately cried spilling out her feelings. Lily felt tears filling her own eyes as she saw the distress and pain evident in her eyes.

All of a sudden the front door clicked and Lily's older self sat bolt upright and frantically tried to wipe away her tears and hide the picture but she didn't have enough time to put it back in the frame so she ended up shoving it into her pocket. The man from the picture who Lily assumed was her husband Mark came into the room. Sure he was handsome with his ocean blue eyes, handsome face and sandy hair but after hearing how he had made her feel so distraught and had even cut her off from her friends Lily looked on the man with different eyes then she otherwise she would have done.

"Hey, daring how are you?" he asked looking completely uninterested as he pulled her up for a hug and unemotional kiss.

As if in slow motion Lily watched the photo fall out of the other hers pocked and float to the floor landing face down. It seemed it had caught Marks eye too cause he released Lily immediately and bent to retrieve it.

"Oh that's nothing Mark, don't bother I'll pick it up" Lily frantically said once she noticed what had happened; whilst she lunged for the picture but it was too late Mark already had it in his hand. Once he saw the picture his whole being seemed to change to one of fury.

"WHAT IS THIS?" He screamed.

"Just an old picture I found, I was about to throw it away. Shh the children are asleep" She comforted whilst moving slightly away from him as though she was scared.

"LIKE I CARE IF THOSE BRATS WAKE UP!" He screamed anger radiating from him "I BET YOU KEPT THIS PICTURE DIDN'T YOU, YOU DIRTY LIAR! WELL YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO SEE THIS PICTURE AGAIN JUST LIKE YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO SEE THOSE STUPID FRIENDS OF YOURS" He shouted before throwing the picture into the fire and storming out of the room leaving Lily in a fit of tears on the floor.

The ghost once again held out its hand towards Lily again and she took it unable to stand another moment there. Thankfully, she found herself in her bed at Hogwarts once again.

"Why did you show me that? What has it got to do with Potter?" She asked in amongst her tears but she got no reply, the simply the ghost faded away and left her alone to her questions and her tears.


	5. The Spirit

**A/N: Well I hope you enjoy this chapter there will probably be one more short chapter just to finish the story off. Thanks for all your support throughout this story. Once again please R&R it will help me get motivated to hurry up and finish off the last chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing anything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling or Charles Dickens.**

After the things Lily had been shown by the ghosts she found herself unable to sleep and instead was curled in a ball on her bed crying and thinking about what she had been shown.

"Dry your tears little one" A kind voice jolted her from her thoughts; looking towards her bed she saw what seemed to be another ghost. Yet this one looked different from the others somehow it was still surrounded by a glow but this one seemed brighter and a friendlier glow. In front of her floated a woman with light blonde hair had shone like the sun, it floated in soft curls to her waist and on her head she wore a crown of flowers woven gently together. This ghost wore a long pure white dress which flowed elegantly around her making her the picture of beauty.

"Are you another ghost? Cause if you are I don't want to see whatever it is you are here to show me. I have seen all I think I can take" Lily pleaded hoping that this ghost would take pity on her and leave her alone.

"I am not a ghost" she smiled kindly at Lily reassuring her slightly "I am a spirit here to grant your wish if you choose. You have seen what will happen if you choose for me to grant the wish but before you make a decision I am here to show you what could happen if I do not. This future is by no means certain just like what the other ghosts have shown you is not. There are many different paths your life could take this like what you have seen it is just the most likely path" She explained kindly her words giving Lily hope.

"Now, I cannot show you much just short flashes like before because it is unhealthy for someone to know their future" She explained holding her delicate hand out for Lily to take.

A warm glow quite unlike what Lily had experienced with the ghosts earlier encased Lily and the spirit. Lily found herself standing in a room she didn't recognise and looking around it seemed to be the lounge of a flat. It was messy with empty glasses littering the table and a few magazines on the floor. Suddenly a group of people Lily recognised very well, the marauders, entered the room and she found herself sighing with relief at the sight of the bespectacled messy haired man in front of her. An overwhelming sense of relief and happiness filled her when see how each of them were happily joking with each other. Sirius was there looking like is usual self with no hint of the boy Lily had been shown. Instead of that mean hearted Slytherin there was the carefree ladies man she found herself missing. Peter looked happier than he had been without them and Remus looked a lot healthier! It was good for her to see them all together once more.

"So, Moony tonight's another full moon what are we going to do tonight?" Sirius excitedly asked.

"Padfoot we aren't going to do anything! You know how dangerous I am we can't do anything exciting someone could get hurt!" Remus sighed looking exasperated yet the small smile he was trying to hide gave away his amusement at the situation.

"Oh lighten up Moony you know we can control you. We won't go anywhere too risky just somewhere new to explore. What do you say?" James joined in pleading with Remus whilst Peter just nodded along enthusiastically from next to him.

"Oh fine!" Remus exclaimed finally letting the smile spread across his face.

Lily found herself smiling along so overcome by the happiness all around. The spirit held out her hand and reluctantly, for she didn't want to leave such a happy scene, Lily took it. The golden light wrapped around them and Lily found herself in the middle of a fairly empty street. It was an old cobbled street with small gift shops on each side of the road, Narnia style iron lampposts ran along the side of the street illuminating the dark street as snow fell gently all around. In the distance a couple slowly made their way up towards Lily and once they got close enough Lily realised it was in fact herself and James. They looked to be either still in school or only just out of school kind of age because they looked very similar to how Lily currently looked. They were both wrapped up warm and were leisurely wandering through the street their hands clasped together and they chatted and joked together looking truly happy.

Questions filled Lily's head as she watched the couple. Were they on a date? Were they actually going out? Strangely Lily felt butterflies fill her stomach at the thought of dating James. She had never actually considered dating James sure he asked her out enough times but she always thought it was just a joke to him, just the thrill of the chase. That's why she started to hate him because she always thought that he was messing with her all along. Looking at the happy couple and the way James was looking at the other her Lily realised that maybe she'd been wrong all along.

She was broken from her thoughts when the couple who were currently laughing stopped right next to the spirit and herself. James had stopped dead and spun Lily around to face him. As the couple stared into each others' eyes their laughter died down and they both moved closer before getting lost in a kiss. Again the spirit took her hand and the golden light surrounded them.

Lily was somewhat taken surprise when she found herself in a church once the golden light had faded. It was truly beautiful church though it looked muggle which confused Lily. She'd always liked churches there was something magical about the buildings, the high ceilings, the stain glass windows and most importantly how they had the power to bring people together. Suddenly the traditional wedding music started and Lily noticed that the church was full of people many of which she recognised looking around to the door that had just opened she saw herself enter looking positively glowing. It must have been the future Lily's wedding because I was wearing a beautiful wedding dress that elegantly fell to the floor and behind her were Alice, Mary and Marlene who must have been the bridesmaids for they wore matching dresses. The bride's eyes scanned the room for a second before they settled on something or someone behind Lily and the spirit though she already had an idea of who it could be. Lily watched for a second as she elegantly walked with her farther down the aisle slightly before turning to follow the other Lily's line of sight. Sure enough at the other end of the aisle stood one James Potter who was staring back at the older her the way she'd always dreamed her groom would look at her.

Next to her the spirit held out her hand and reluctantly Lily took it knowing she could not stay. After the light had faded Lily found herself back on her bed in her dormitory.

"I have shown you all I wish to show you now you must make your decision. Do you still want me to grant your wish?" The spirit questioned.

"No my wish was foolish and selfish I would prefer it if you didn't"

"Are you quite sure my dear for you will not get another opportunity for this wish. I want to make sure you are quite certain my dear"

"I am certain" Lily replied looking determined.

"Very well, I must leave you now. Try and get some rest for morning is fast approaching. Goodbye Lily" The spirit said as she faded away and Lily was left in the dark once more.

This time she settled down and fell asleep instantly happy that she had done the right thing.


	6. Christmas Day

**A/N: So this is it the final chapter! I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has read this, added it to their alerts or favourites or who have reviewed! I really appreciate it! I never thought this would get the reception it has it was just a random idea I had late one night that I thought I might as well try out to see how it went. Thanks once again for reading as as always your reviews and comments are appreaciated. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing anything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling or Charles Dickens.**

Lily was woken once again from her sleep but this time she wasn't greeted by a ghost or spirit instead she was greeted by a very excited Alice. It was no secret Christmas was Alice's favourite time of the year and this year she had decided Lily had taken far too long to wake up and so had jumped on her.

"Come on Lily, wake up! IT'S CHRISTMAS!" she shouted whilst jumping off her and pulling the covers off along with her, so that Lily was now exposed to the cold morning air. This turned out to be a very effective way of waking Lily up as she almost instantly rolled out of bed grumbling the whole time. That was until Alice's words had sunk in and she realised it was Christmas day! Suddenly she felt the excitement of Christmas day fill her and simultaneously the memories of last night came flooding back to her along with the realisation she had made that night as she dropped off to sleep. She fancied James Potter she actually liked him! She felt her face light up with happiness as it all came back to her.

The girls dragged her down to the common room and over to their usual place by the fire as they gathered around to exchange presents. Lily looked frantically around when there was no sign of the marauders. Where were they? They were always there at this time on Christmas day! As Lily enjoyed opening the presents with her friends she found that her eyes constantly drifted towards the boys staircase and she had to hide her disappointment each time no one appeared down those stairs. Where was James?

"Lily, what's going on? Are you ok?" Mary asked having noticed my strange behaviour.

"Where are the Marauders? Where's James?" Lily blurted out. All of them shot odd looks her way whether it was because she was actually asking where the Marauders were or because she had called James, James and not Potter she wasn't sure.

"Why should you care?" Marlene snapped at her "You weren't exactly nice to James last night!"

Marlene had always been close to James having practically grown up with him as their families were such close friends and always jumped to James' defence whenever Lily was mean about him. Once of the things she truly hated was the way Lily treated James.

"I want...I want to apologise" Lily whispered looking at her feet as an awkward silence spread across the group.

"Oh look at the time" Mary awkwardly broke the silence "The feast is about to start, we better go"

Everyone stood up and with one last glance at the boys staircase Lily followed her friends out of the common room. The others seemed to have returned to normal and were excitedly chatting to each other once again but Lily walked along on the outside of the group in silence. She felt an overwhelming guilt for not only how she had treated James last night but also for how she had always treated him. Before she knew it they had reached the doors to The Great Hall and pushing them open they all entered.

A smile spread across Lily's face as she saw the Marauders happily messing around sitting in their usual place down the table. Their heads whipped around at the noise of them entering and smiles spread across their faces as they stood up to greet their friends. Lily felt James' eyes drift to her and a look of surprise crossed his face when he realised that Lily didn't look angry like she normally would after one of their infamous fights, in fact she looked really happy and carefree.

Lily could practically see his mind working trying to figure out why she seemed to have completely forgotten the fight they had, had last night. She watched a slight smirk on her face as James ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think it over and Lily no longer able to resist broke out running towards him. Taking James completely by surprise she crashed into him giving him a hug, before pulling away to stare into his caramel coloured eyes.

"I'm sorry... for everything" She whispered before grabbing his face and pulling the surprised Marauder into a kiss. That one kiss quickly turned into a make out session in front of everyone in The Great Hall but for once Lily didn't care what people thought because she had what she'd wanted all along! Though it might have taken her far too long to work out just what she wanted.


End file.
